Tennis News

Well, it shouldn't come as a huge surprise to her that Serena is extremely of competitive nature and she hardly sees anyone as her friend on a professional tour, so she's hardly going to hand in any compliment. If anything she's probably plotting a revenge. lol

John Tomic, the father and coach of Bernard Tomic, was allegedly arrested three days ago prior to the Madrid tournament for allegedly head butting and breaking the nose of his son’s hitting partner, TENNIS.com has learned.

Sources on site told TENNIS.com that Tomic's hitting partner, France’s Thomas Drouet, was knocked out cold for 20 minutes. John Tomic, who has reputation of having a volcanic temper, was said to have spent one to two days in jail. The ATP has confirmed that there was an incident and report they are currently investigating it, but would not reveal details. Sources on site also said that Drouet has since been seen with a neck brace and a cast around his nose.

The French radio station RMC is alleging that John Tomic struck his son while at the tournament in Monte Carlo and that Bernard was bleeding around his jaw area. RMC also reports that Drouet got in between John and Bernard, which later triggered the assault. Drouet is also said to have a fractured vertebrae. Apparently players Alexandr Dolgopolov and Janko Tipsarevic witnessed the attack, where an ambulance was called. John Tomic was said to be summoned to appear in a Madrid court on Monday.

John Tomic is notorious for clashes, including having a public heated argument with Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley that lead to security guards being placed around Tiley; being involved in a road-rage incident in 2006 in which he forced a car occupied by two coaches and a female junior player off the road; and pulling Bernard off the court mid-match at a tournament in Perth when he alleged officials were fixing draws and cheating his then 16-year-old son.

It sounds to me that John Tomic is in serious need of psychiatric help. Giving him a prison sentence won't do him any good. It must have been very unpleasant for Dolgo and Tipsy, but I'm glad that there were reliable witnesses to the attack because at least JT won't be able to talk his way out of it.

It says a lot for Bernard though that he carried on playing in the tournament. No surprise at his R1 exit though. How could anyone keep their focus after an incident that like?

He sounds like an awful man. How terrible that Thomas Drouet had to suffer that attack just for defending Bernard in the first place. I feel sorry for Bernard - can't be easy to have such a controlling father. I'm sure he'd play much better tennis if he stopped his father from travelling with him.

Tomic's Dad has been an issue for a long time, but now he's clearly gone too far. I feel so sorry for Tomic, he must be mortified over this latest debacle, and, of course, for the man his father hit. I suspect Tomic has been trying to be loyal to his Dad, but it seems to me the time for that is over now. He should give his Dad the old heave-ho and then work to get his career back on track. I hope he can, because a year or two back he showed such promise.